Mega Man & Bass/Rockman & Forte (SNES, 1998)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-7 Control-8 Challenge-8.5/7.5* Story-4
Level Design-7 Frustration-9/8* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*With the best items
+
2 different playable characters (Rock/Mega Man and Forte/Bass)
Multiple paths
Battery save (finally! - four slots, save after bosses)
Mini-bosses
Good art direction and use of colour
Replay beaten levels
Some interesting mechanics (jet pack as Bass, attack boost when at low health, Eddy or Rush Dig (finds random item - not that great), the monkey/pulley boss)
Most special weapons are useful (there are some interesting ones as well like the magic card – origin of the hornet weapon in MM9 and the mine shot (both the detonation and the firing path can be controlled))
Hidden items
Some creative level design (ground man, dynamo man)
Shop system
Faster movement and default slide than in MM8
You don’t pick up ammo unless you’re currently using a special weapon
Some special weapons have different uses underwater
Shows you how to use each weapon in a good way (through the crystal area where you also get 100 bolts per weapon gained by using it correctly; only negatives are that it opens pretty late and you don’t know it’s there beforehand so you can plan ahead)
Good bosses overall (however dynamo man and magic man are pretty cheap without the right weapons)
+/-
Longer levels
Rehashes old gimmicks/graphics/bosses from MM8 (sometimes for the better such as with astro man’s stage)
Different level advancement (gradually gives you more stages to choose between - seemingly pointless considering the uneven difficulty and it’s kind of tedious having to unlock stages to get a special weapon in with which to get an item in a previous stage)
Plenty of rooms where you need to be a specific character or have a certain weapon to reach an item (could've been more about skill instead so you don't constantly feel like you're missing stuff)
Bosses take longer to kill as Bass (unless you use the right special weapons)
Bolt system is MM7 style plus you get a huge load of bolts before the fortress so you’ll likely have too many bolts after a while unless you’re rushing through the game
Features weaker alternatives to E-Tanks (which can only be bought, not found) - regen/recover and bigger boosts from HP items (there’s also Eddie which can be used twice per stage (but with random results and if you happen to position him in a wall the items are wasted – not reliable during the toughest boss fights)
Ice Wall is overpowered but also has some interesting uses (create sliding platforms to ride on - good for speedruns)
Checkpoints before bosses - without ammo/energy refills
Counters its trial & error design with frequent 1-ups
Enemies that steal your money
Scarce energy drops from enemies
Both characters play like a limited version of Mega Man X (Bass is also a bit better than Mega Man as he can dash, double jump and fire in 7 directions – his drawbacks are not being able to walk and fire, slide or shoot through walls)
Need to beat a set amount of levels to upgrade the shop (three per level?)
Can’t shoot enemies connected to a ladder from above by sitting near the top of the ladder (could be done in older games)
Enemy cannon projectiles disappear if they move above the screen
Off screen enemy respawning
Vertical-based jumps that aren’t affected by your movement speed (see Contra; not the case with Bass as his dash jump works like in MMX)
Limited number of lives (9 – additional collected lives are wasted)
Your ammo isn’t refilled after beating an already cleared stage or a fortress stage
Lightning bolt (smart bomb) is a bit overpowered
MM1 style boss rush for the final stage (means no health drops from beaten bosses)
No rush coil or rush jet (as MM you should go for cold man right away to help with climbing)
There’s a limit to how many of a certain set of special items one can equip at once (probably balances some things out but also leads to some tedious and unnecessary switching in the menu between the stronger energy pellets upgrade and the more efficient special weapons upgrade)
Some platforming and puzzle-like parts are much easier with Bass (and he gets safe spots here and there) while bosses are usually harder (without special weapons)
Slide over smaller gaps as MM
-
Trial & error (boss patterns, no way to spot some of the fake floor traps without walking into them, the last part of burner man’s stage and the beginning of Tengu Man’s stage, burner man is immune to the weapon he’s weak to unless he’s standing still (making the ice wall quite tedious to use against him), can't look up/down - leaps of faith/elevator traps (ground man, pirate man), spike columns in Ground Man's stage, fast disappearing block segment with a fake alternate path, another fake alternate path in the first fortress level, enemies that run away with their loot when killed, sniper joe encounters on platforms that spin when you stand still on them, Astro Man, spike balls from above, fake alternate path at a disappearing block segment in Astro Man's stage)
A few cheap hits if you don’t have the right weapon for the situation
Loose upward scrolling in pirate man’s stage
Uneven difficulty (Burner Man, Astro Man, some parts of Astro Man's stage, beginning of tengu man’s stage and final part of burner man’s stage, twin robot/laser trap boss, King’s second form, Wily – no warning before he teleports in while in his capsule, Ground Man's stage and mini-boss, flying mech in King's fortress)
Having to press down to slide as Mega Man (could’ve been mapped to its own button)
Slow paced at times
Some tedious enemies that force you to wait (green robots with shields (sniper joe), poison traps in the ceiling)
Generic item collection (CDs add to a character database - yay! – should’ve been bolts or e-tanks instead as they are usually fun to find but there’s no gameplay incentive to get them)
Several gameplay innovations are underdeveloped (can't move backwards in a stage, see character/weapon specific out of reach items)
No difficulty or control options (can't turn off the double-tap dash as Bass - there's already a button for it though not in the optimal position unfortunately)
Inconsistent hit detection (sometimes forgiving (drill enemies in the intro stage, platform edges, spike balls from below, the spike columns, sometimes odd hit detection when moving near the ice walls - mega man sort of sticks to the wall)
Several bosses have an annoying amount of invincibility time
Still can't switch special weapons until the effect of the current one disappears
Shop issues (lacking explanations for some items, energy balancer is too expensive for what it does, shock guard is a a bit too cheap, present sucks compared to e-tanks, cd counter should’ve been free, recover/regen is too expensive and feels cheap when they could’ve just let you farm a bit like in older games, Exit should’ve been a free feature included from the beginning (you can dig it up in freeze man’s stage but there’s no visual clue)
Maintained control over the shot charger during boss intros (means you have to manually time the shot for when the fight starts)
Can’t normally use the buster while in special weapon form like in MM8 (can do it while using a projection (astro) or while an ice wall is on screen)
Worse tengu man theme, So-so instrument quality at times and the final boss music is annoying
Somewhat generic intro stage
Fairly easy to lock Wily’s first form in his stomping pattern
Level Design-7 Frustration-9/8* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*With the best items
+
2 different playable characters (Rock/Mega Man and Forte/Bass)
Multiple paths
Battery save (finally! - four slots, save after bosses)
Mini-bosses
Good art direction and use of colour
Replay beaten levels
Some interesting mechanics (jet pack as Bass, attack boost when at low health, Eddy or Rush Dig (finds random item - not that great), the monkey/pulley boss)
Most special weapons are useful (there are some interesting ones as well like the magic card – origin of the hornet weapon in MM9 and the mine shot (both the detonation and the firing path can be controlled))
Hidden items
Some creative level design (ground man, dynamo man)
Shop system
Faster movement and default slide than in MM8
You don’t pick up ammo unless you’re currently using a special weapon
Some special weapons have different uses underwater
Shows you how to use each weapon in a good way (through the crystal area where you also get 100 bolts per weapon gained by using it correctly; only negatives are that it opens pretty late and you don’t know it’s there beforehand so you can plan ahead)
Good bosses overall (however dynamo man and magic man are pretty cheap without the right weapons)
+/-
Longer levels
Rehashes old gimmicks/graphics/bosses from MM8 (sometimes for the better such as with astro man’s stage)
Different level advancement (gradually gives you more stages to choose between - seemingly pointless considering the uneven difficulty and it’s kind of tedious having to unlock stages to get a special weapon in with which to get an item in a previous stage)
Plenty of rooms where you need to be a specific character or have a certain weapon to reach an item (could've been more about skill instead so you don't constantly feel like you're missing stuff)
Bosses take longer to kill as Bass (unless you use the right special weapons)
Bolt system is MM7 style plus you get a huge load of bolts before the fortress so you’ll likely have too many bolts after a while unless you’re rushing through the game
Features weaker alternatives to E-Tanks (which can only be bought, not found) - regen/recover and bigger boosts from HP items (there’s also Eddie which can be used twice per stage (but with random results and if you happen to position him in a wall the items are wasted – not reliable during the toughest boss fights)
Ice Wall is overpowered but also has some interesting uses (create sliding platforms to ride on - good for speedruns)
Checkpoints before bosses - without ammo/energy refills
Counters its trial & error design with frequent 1-ups
Enemies that steal your money
Scarce energy drops from enemies
Both characters play like a limited version of Mega Man X (Bass is also a bit better than Mega Man as he can dash, double jump and fire in 7 directions – his drawbacks are not being able to walk and fire, slide or shoot through walls)
Need to beat a set amount of levels to upgrade the shop (three per level?)
Can’t shoot enemies connected to a ladder from above by sitting near the top of the ladder (could be done in older games)
Enemy cannon projectiles disappear if they move above the screen
Off screen enemy respawning
Vertical-based jumps that aren’t affected by your movement speed (see Contra; not the case with Bass as his dash jump works like in MMX)
Limited number of lives (9 – additional collected lives are wasted)
Your ammo isn’t refilled after beating an already cleared stage or a fortress stage
Lightning bolt (smart bomb) is a bit overpowered
MM1 style boss rush for the final stage (means no health drops from beaten bosses)
No rush coil or rush jet (as MM you should go for cold man right away to help with climbing)
There’s a limit to how many of a certain set of special items one can equip at once (probably balances some things out but also leads to some tedious and unnecessary switching in the menu between the stronger energy pellets upgrade and the more efficient special weapons upgrade)
Some platforming and puzzle-like parts are much easier with Bass (and he gets safe spots here and there) while bosses are usually harder (without special weapons)
Slide over smaller gaps as MM
-
Trial & error (boss patterns, no way to spot some of the fake floor traps without walking into them, the last part of burner man’s stage and the beginning of Tengu Man’s stage, burner man is immune to the weapon he’s weak to unless he’s standing still (making the ice wall quite tedious to use against him), can't look up/down - leaps of faith/elevator traps (ground man, pirate man), spike columns in Ground Man's stage, fast disappearing block segment with a fake alternate path, another fake alternate path in the first fortress level, enemies that run away with their loot when killed, sniper joe encounters on platforms that spin when you stand still on them, Astro Man, spike balls from above, fake alternate path at a disappearing block segment in Astro Man's stage)
A few cheap hits if you don’t have the right weapon for the situation
Loose upward scrolling in pirate man’s stage
Uneven difficulty (Burner Man, Astro Man, some parts of Astro Man's stage, beginning of tengu man’s stage and final part of burner man’s stage, twin robot/laser trap boss, King’s second form, Wily – no warning before he teleports in while in his capsule, Ground Man's stage and mini-boss, flying mech in King's fortress)
Having to press down to slide as Mega Man (could’ve been mapped to its own button)
Slow paced at times
Some tedious enemies that force you to wait (green robots with shields (sniper joe), poison traps in the ceiling)
Generic item collection (CDs add to a character database - yay! – should’ve been bolts or e-tanks instead as they are usually fun to find but there’s no gameplay incentive to get them)
Several gameplay innovations are underdeveloped (can't move backwards in a stage, see character/weapon specific out of reach items)
No difficulty or control options (can't turn off the double-tap dash as Bass - there's already a button for it though not in the optimal position unfortunately)
Inconsistent hit detection (sometimes forgiving (drill enemies in the intro stage, platform edges, spike balls from below, the spike columns, sometimes odd hit detection when moving near the ice walls - mega man sort of sticks to the wall)
Several bosses have an annoying amount of invincibility time
Still can't switch special weapons until the effect of the current one disappears
Shop issues (lacking explanations for some items, energy balancer is too expensive for what it does, shock guard is a a bit too cheap, present sucks compared to e-tanks, cd counter should’ve been free, recover/regen is too expensive and feels cheap when they could’ve just let you farm a bit like in older games, Exit should’ve been a free feature included from the beginning (you can dig it up in freeze man’s stage but there’s no visual clue)
Maintained control over the shot charger during boss intros (means you have to manually time the shot for when the fight starts)
Can’t normally use the buster while in special weapon form like in MM8 (can do it while using a projection (astro) or while an ice wall is on screen)
Worse tengu man theme, So-so instrument quality at times and the final boss music is annoying
Somewhat generic intro stage
Fairly easy to lock Wily’s first form in his stomping pattern